


Someone Lost, Something Found

by gay_english_nerd



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Psychological Trauma, i have so many regrets, puppy kicking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25446208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gay_english_nerd/pseuds/gay_english_nerd
Summary: After a long night of akumas, Marinette pulls herself out of bed to battle what she hopes will be the final one.This ends in her kicking a puppy.For Masper's "Miraculous Kick The Dog" Challenge. I have so many regrets.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 17
Kudos: 65
Collections: Miraculous Kick the Dog Challenge





	Someone Lost, Something Found

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! This work is for the Miraculous Fanworks Discord "Kick the Dog" Challenge, proposed by Maspers. I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you don't judge me too harshley for writing about puppy kicking. 
> 
> TW: animal abuse, psychological trauma and hallucinations

It was another akuma. Another akuma dragging Marinette out of bed just moments after she collapsed into it. Another alarm. Another exhausting three hour battle. 

Another _fricking_ akuma. 

The alarm forced her to pull herself out of bed. Despite her screaming muscles, she pulled herself to her skylight. It was the fourth akuma of the night, and part of Hawkmoth’s new crusade- deprive the heroes of their much-need sleep. Marinette could feel herself fading, but it wasn’t like she could leave the akuma rampaging until morning. 

… could she?

She shook her head forcefully. No, she couldn’t. Still, she swayed with exhaustion as she climbed up onto her balcony, and her half-hearted cry of “Tikki, Spots on!” did nothing to energize her. 

She pulled up the Chat-tracker on her bug phone, cursing when she saw he wasn’t active. It looked like she’d be fighting(and finding) the akuma alone for a little while. 

Of course, that was another problem, wasn’t it? This akuma wasn’t a strongarm- it wasn’t creating a noticeable disturbance. Ladybug would have to spend precious time she could be sleeping just _searching_ for the goddamned akuma. 

She groaned. Nothing to do but start.

After a good fifteen minutes of the dizzying travel, though, she found no trace of it. No trace of Chat Noir, either.

She found herself hoping it was just a false alarm as she turned around, preparing to swing home. 

When she looked up, though, she found she didn’t know where she was. Well, that wasn’t entirely true- she knew all the roads, all the monuments, but they were all… wrong, somehow. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear them, but nothing changed. Huh.

This _had_ to be because of her exhaustion. She was practically dead on her feet, and Chat had warned her over and over about the dangers of patrolling while tired. She was swaying on her feet, and-

_Chat._ She missed her kitty. Where was he, anyways? He was never this late for akuma alerts, never-

She saw the Montparnesse Tower out of the corner of her eye and gave a start- _had that been there before?_ She wasn’t sure it had, but then again, it was right there, and it was the only landmark that looked right. 

She’d be able to figure out where she was from the top of it. 

The ground shifted underneath her feet, and suddenly, she was towering above the city from the height of the tower. She furrowed her brow. _When did I get up here?_

She didn’t have time to ponder it before she looked up, eyes zeroing in on a figure at the edge of the Tower. He was singing, softly, and Ladybug was hit with a strange sense of deja vu. Did she know this stranger? She was sure she did, but her exhaustion was sitting like a cloud on her brain- she couldn’t remember why she was on the tower in the first place. 

The figure turned and she shrieked; azure blue eyes pierced her and she was falling, sinking into icy blue pits around her- _when did Paris drown?-_ and she was on her feet again, staring at Chat Blanc, a destroyed Paris sprawling behind him.

“Why’d you leave me, Marinette?” He whispered, his voice sending shivers down her spine. She cried out, stumbling over her feet as she ran for him.

“Chat, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-” Her arms reached for him, but he disappeared in a plume of orange smoke; she spun around, searching for him, only to find him lying prone on the ground. 

She screamed and rushed towards him, begging him for forgiveness, but he disappeared too as Ladybug’s tears dissolved his form. 

“Chat- No-” she sobbed, watching as the scene reset itself- now, she could see Chat Blanc crying for her from the other edge of the building. She couldn’t stop herself- she stumbled towards him, into his arms, only for him to disappear again. She let out an inhuman cry as the smoke wafted past her face- _but where did she know this smoke from?_

She didn’t have time to think about it as he appeared in front of her again, dissolving into orange as she reached for him. _Orange smoke._ She knew that from somewhere, she did, she was sure of it-

Ladybug reached for her yoyo. She scrambled towards the edge of the tower, swinging it at the water below. It dissolved into orange smoke before reforming. 

_Illusions_. 

She let out a cry as she turned around, seeing Chat Blanc smiling at her from the other side of the building. _Not real, not real, not real…_

She swung her yoyo in a wide arc, glitters of orange following it’s path, but it was no use- behind each swipe, a new illusion formed. Chat Blanc, teetering at the edge of the building, Chat Blanc, tears glittering in his ice-blue eyes, Chat Blanc, lying prone and probably dead-

She screeched, swatting her yoyo again. _It’s not real it’s not real it’s not real it’s not-_

Suddenly, the scene shifted, and it was Aspik lying prone. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest and fresh tears spilled over as she rushed the boy, but then he was gone again- _of course_. 

She threw her yoyo again, and again, and again, watching as each akuma battle came back to her. She wanted to stop, she wanted this to be _over_ , but nothing she did broke her from the prison the illusions she was caught in, nothing set her free, nothing spared her eyes and ears and heart from the pain they were enduring. 

She stumbled, exhaustion freezing her limbs as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. Her yoyo was discarded somewhere behind her. She was on her hands and knees as she panted, waiting in agony for the next illusion to show up.

It came in the form of a puppy. She scrambled to her feet- was this supposed to be Animan? Was this puppy going to shift into some dinosaur, or turn white, or-?

She scrambled back as it approached her. “No, stay away, don’t-” 

Her lungs weren’t getting enough air, she realized. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t see, she couldn’t _think_ , and the illusion in front of her was just waiting for it’s chance to hurt her. She had to stop it, she didn’t want to see what ghastly image it would come up with-

Letting out a sob, her foot jerked out, a last ditch attempt at making the illusion disappear. Her foot sailed through the air, and she waited for her foot to go straight through air and orange dust.

It didn’t. 

She gasped as her latex-covered foot hit the puppy’s stomach, sending it tumbling away from her with a high-ptiched squeal. She hurried after it, but the puppy whimpered, scurrying away from her. No, she hadn’t mean to- she didn’t mean it-

She felt tears rise to her eyes as she watched the puppy nurse its wounds. She wanted to apologize, to reach out to it, to help it, but the world was closing in on her- she couldn’t breathe, and all she could hear were screams, and she _knew_ Chat Blanc was behind her, and she was lonely, and she was scared, so, so scared.

She yanked on her pigtails. She’d never escape here- there was no way- she couldn’t _fucking breathe_ , and everyting hurt, and-

Her spiral was interrupted by a wet tongue on her cheek. She looked up to see the puppy wagging it’s tail, all it’s previous woes forgotten. Ladybug laughed, extending her hand to the small dog. It nuzzled her fingers, and she noticed a small scrape on it’s black nose. She winced. That was her fault. 

“I’m- I’m so sorry, little one, I didn’t mean to hurt you… I’m so sorry…” She scooped the dog up in her arms, where it burrowed comfortably. She smiled softly, nuzzling its ears. 

If this was the only real thing in her world, if this was the _only thing_ that wasn’t an illusion, then by god she was going to keep it with her. 

She sniffed, holding the puppy closer. She didn’t want to be alone anymore. She didn’t want to be afraid, and she didn’t want to be unsure. This, at least, was real. If it was just she and him, all alone, then she’d keep the puppy safe until her dying breath.

“Thank you,” She whispered, scratching its ears. The puppy- a he, she decided- whined, licking the tears off her face. She laughed again. They’d be okay, she decided. They’d be alright. 

* * *

She didn’t know how long she sat on her knees, hunched over the sleeping pup. She was startled by a figure in black approaching her. She held out a hand, still cradling the puppy with the other, as she spoke.

“Don’t- don’t come any closer,” She whispered, her voice shaking. 

“M’lady? Ladybug? Are you- what-”

She looked up at his voice, startled to see her normal Chat Noir staring back at her. She glanced around. She was no longer on the Montparnesse Tower, and Paris was alive, all the buildings above water and in their usual positions. Still, she didn’t trust it- backing away, she held her hand out, as if that could protect her from the horrors she’d seen before. 

“M’lady, no…” She chanced a glance up to meet his heartbroken eyes, but she shook her head- Chat Blanc had looked at her like that before he’d disappeared, no-

“You- you’re not real, stay away, please-” Ladybug sobbed, though she knew begging with the illusion was no good. He shook his head sadly as he reached his hand out, grasping hers. Her eyes widened- letting go of his hand, she brushed her hand up his arm, towards his shoulder, towards his face, his cheek, and to his eyes, which were glimmering with tears. 

“You’re… real.” She whispered, leaning her head against his. He wrapped his arms around her as she burst into tears. He stroked her back as she sobbed into his shoulder, blubbering about the tower and ice and water and the moon. When her sniffles slowed, she pulled away, wiping her eyes with her free hand.

In her arms, the puppy yawned, batting his paws in the air. Ladybug laughed softly.

“Who’s that, Ladybug?” Chat asked, curiously peering over her bundle. 

“It’s- it’s Maspers. The puppy.” She came up with the name on the spot, but she liked it, somehow. Chat looked at her curiously, but he didn’t press, instead wrapping an arm around her shoulders. 

“Are you alright, Ladybug? That akuma- fricking _Lila_ again- and you were crying-”

“Don’t you worry about me, Kitty Cat. Let me… lucky charm…”

Her charm(a dog collar, interestingly) landed in her hands and she tossed it in the air, fixing the damage done in the fight. Ladybug yawned again, swaying a little, but Chat caught her waist. 

“Ladybug, what have I told you about overworking yourself? I know it’s been a tough few nights, but you could’ve slept during the day instead!”

She leaned her head into his shoulder.

Chat looked at her curiously. “What- what did you see in there? You were looking at me like…” He shook his head, unable to find the words. 

Ladybug lifted the puppy up, carefully adjusting him in her arms. “I’m going to take Maspers home,” She said thoughtfully, and then, “Nothing. I saw nothing that matters anymore.”

Chat looked doubtful, but he relented. “If you say so. Now, come on.” He grinned, pulling out his staff. “Let’s get you and Maspers home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! As said above, this was a work for the Miraculous Fanworks "Kick the Dog" Challenge. If you're interested in joining a community of kind people who enjoy miraculous and miraculous fanworks, the [ Miraculous Fanworks](https://discord.gg/PjNZgsf) discord is for you!


End file.
